In an ice making device in which an ice making member such as evaporation pipe is inserted into an ice tray that stores water to manufacture ice pieces, the ice making member in a cooled state is inserted into the ice tray from an upper side and moved in an upper and lower direction, i.e., moved in an up and down direction, to manufacture ice pieces around the ice making member. When the ice pieces have reached to a predetermined size, the ice making member and the ice tray are separated from each other in the upper and lower direction. In this case, since the ice pieces are fixed to the ice making member, the ice making member and the ice pieces are separated from the ice tray. After that, the ice tray is moved to a position displaced from the underside of the ice making member and then the ice making member is heated. As a result, portions of the ice pieces fixed to the ice making member are melted, the ice pieces are dropped and stored in an ice storage part which is disposed on an under side.
The ice making device is described, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-47824 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-301490. In the ice making devices, if water within the ice tray is completely frozen, the ice tray and ice pieces are in a fixed state and thus, when ice making members and the ice tray are to be separated from each other, the ice pieces may be left in the ice tray. Therefore, when ice pieces are to be manufactured around the ice making member, water within the ice tray is required not to be frozen completely.
However, in an ice making method in which water within the ice tray is not frozen completely, the size and shape of an ice piece cannot be determined by an inner peripheral face of the ice tray and thus it is difficult to obtain ice pieces having a desired size and shape. Further, since water within the ice tray is not frozen completely, the surface of a manufactured ice piece is in a wet state and thus water may be left in the ice storage part.
In order to prevent this problem, in a case that water within the ice tray is frozen completely, it is conceivable that the ice tray is heated with a heater to separate ice pieces from the ice tray and the ice making member is separated from the ice tray. However, when ice pieces within the ice tray are melted with the heater, the surface of the ice piece becomes a wet state and thus water may be stored within the ice storage part. Further, when a heater is provided, a manufacturing cost of the ice making device is increased.